Downtown Eatery Will Close

It's Latest Snag In Eustis Revitalization Effort

EUSTIS -- Caffe Capri Ristorante, a popular Italian eatery downtown, will close March 22, its owner and chef said Tuesday.

Emanuele Fano said he has to shut the restaurant because he can't afford the rent increase charged by the building's owner.

Caffe Capri has offered northern Italian cuisine at the corner of Magnolia Avenue and Eustis Street since March 2002.

Property owner Greg Mack could not be reached for comment.

Its closing is the latest snag to hit Eustis' efforts to revive its downtown after the old Florida Hospital Waterman complex was demolished in 2003.

Last December, the Lake Eustis Foundation, a nonprofit group that is coordinating the redevelopment of the now-vacant hospital property, failed to reach an agreement with a company to develop the first phase of a project that included building a community of shops, offices and condominiums.

The foundation instead will tackle the initial part of the work on its own when it breaks ground in October.

Since the hospital's move to Tavares, many downtown merchants have struggled.

Caffe Capri is known for attracting customers from as far away as Ocala and Orlando. "It's exactly the type of restaurant that I would like to see flourish here," said Kevin Jenness, owner of Peddler's Wagon on Magnolia Avenue. "I would be hard pressed to think of anything that would work in its place."

Fano insists it's not the end of his business. He and his wife are now looking to move the restaurant to a new location, preferably still in Eustis. "I tell people that we're not really closing," Fano said. "We're on vacation until we find a new location."

Charles Rudd, who runs the Eustis Main Street program downtown, said it's not good when a popular eatery such as Caffe Capri leaves a downtown area.

"But I don't think it will slow down the development [of the hospital property]," Rudd said.

One of the side effects of downtown redevelopments, Rudd said, is that rent increases begin to outpace the market. "But eventually the market adjusts itself," Rudd said. Otherwise, the properties sit vacant.

Fano would not say how much he pays in rent, but Rudd said that the average rate for downtown Eustis is about $12 per square foot a year. Caffe Capri is about 4,500 square feet.

Rudd said he would like to see Fano stay in downtown Eustis, perhaps opening a restaurant in one of the new buildings on the old hospital site.

Anita Fano, Emanuele's wife and co-owner of the restaurant, said that Caffe Capri's dozen employees likely will find jobs at a new restaurant on Magnolia Avenue that is scheduled to open in April.

Emanuele Fano is a third-generation descendant of Italian chefs from Grado, a tiny Italian island in the Adriatic Sea.

All of the breads, sauces and desserts on Caffe Capri's menu are homemade, using recipes from generations of Fano's family, Fano said.

Fano, 38, arrived in the United States in 1993 after being selected for an Epcot international student-exchange fellowship program. He later worked at several large Orlando hotels and restaurants before he and his wife opened Caffe Capri.